Incense Route - Desert Cities in the Negev
Incense Route - Desert Cities in the Negev
The four Nabatean towns of Haluza, Mamshit, Avdat and Shivta, along with associated fortresses and agricultural landscapes in the Negev Desert, are spread along routes linking them to the Mediterranean end of the incense and spice route. Together they reflect the hugely profitable trade in frankincense and myrrh from south Arabia to the Mediterranean, which flourished from the 3rd century BC until the 2nd century AD. With the vestiges of their sophisticated irrigation systems, urban constructions, forts and caravanserai, they bear witness to the way in which the harsh desert was settled for trade and agriculture.
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0
Route de l’encens – Villes du désert du Néguev
Dans le désert du Néguev, les quatre anciennes villes nabatéennes d’Avdat, Haluza, Mamshit et Shivta, ainsi qu’une série de forteresses et de paysages agricoles, jalonnaient la route par laquelle transitaient l’encens et les épices. Tous ces sites constituent un témoignage du commerce extrêmement rentable de l’encens et de la myrrhe, entre le sud de la péninsule Arabique et la Méditerranée, qui prospéra du IIIe siècle av. J.-C. au IIe siècle apr. J.- C. Leurs vestiges de systèmes d’irrigation extrêmement perfectionnés, de constructions urbaines, de fortins et de caravansérails, témoignent de la façon dont ce désert inhospitalier fut colonisé pour le commerce et l’agriculture.
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0
طريق البَخُّور - مدن صحراء النقب
في صحراء النقب، كانت مدن الأنباط القديمة الأربع أفدت وحلوزا وممشيت وشيفتا، بالإضافة إلى سلسلة من الحصون والمناظر الزراعية المتنوعة، منتشرة على طريق عبور البَخُّور والتوابل. وتشهد هذه المواقع كلها على تجارة البَخُّور والكندر (المرّ) المربحة جداً بين جنوب شبه الجزيرة العربية ومنطقة المتوسط، وهي تجارة ازدهرت من القرن الثالث قبل المسيح حتى القرن الثاني ب.م. كما تظهر آثار أنظمة الري المتطورة وأبنية المدن والحصون وخانات القوافل الأسلوب الذي جرى من خلاله استيطان هذه الصحراء الموحشة لصالح التجارة والزراعة.
source: UNESCO/CPE
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0
熏香之路——内盖夫的沙漠城镇
那巴提人的四个城镇哈鲁扎(Haluza)、曼席特(Mamshit)、阿伏达特(Avdat)和席伏塔(Shivta)，以及内盖夫沙漠的相关堡垒和农业景观，分布在通往地中海端的熏香之路两边。它们共同反映了自公元前3世纪起到公元2世纪间从阿拉伯南部到地中海地区乳香和没药贸易的巨大繁荣景象。复杂的灌溉系统、城市建筑、城堡和商队旅馆等遗迹，见证着条件艰苦的沙漠发展成为贸易和农业定居点的过程。
source: UNESCO/CPE
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0
«Дорога ладана» – города в пустыне Негев
Четыре древних набатейских города – Халуза, Мамшит, Авдат и Шивта, вместе с окрестными крепостями и сельскохозяйственными ландшафтами в пустыне Негев, расположены вдоль дороги, по которой перевозили к Средиземному морю ладан и пряности. Все вместе эти объекты свидетельствуют о процветавшей в период с III в. до н.э. по II в. н.э. торговле ладаном и миррой, которые вывозились из южной Аравии в Средиземноморье. Следы совершенных оросительных систем, руины городских сооружений, крепостей и караван-сараев показывают, каким образом суровая пустыня осваивалась людьми, вознамерившимися заниматься здесь торговлей и развивать сельское хозяйство.
source: UNESCO/CPE
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0
Ruta del incienso – Ciudades del desierto del Neguev
En el desierto del Neguev, las cuatro antiguas ciudades nabateas de Avdat, Haluza, Mamshit Kurnub y Shivta, así como una serie de fortalezas y paisajes agrícolas, jalonaban los itinerarios de la ruta por la que transitaban el incienso y las especias hacia su destino final: la cuenca del Mediterráneo. Todos estos sitios constituyen un testimonio del comercio sumamente rentable del incienso y la mirra entre el sur de la Península Arábiga y la cuenca del Mediterráneo, que floreció desde el siglo III a. C. hasta el siglo II d. C. Este sitio conserva vestigios de sistemas de irrigación extremadamente perfeccionados, de construcciones urbanas, de fortines y de caravasares que atestiguan cómo el hombre logró asentarse en estas tierras desérticas inhóspitas y desarrollar la agricultura y el comercio en ellas.
source: UNESCO/CPE
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0
香料の道-ネゲヴ砂漠都市
イスラエルのネゲヴ砂漠で、要塞や農業的な景観を象徴しているハルザ、マムシット、アヴダット、シヴタの4つのナバテアの都市は、終点の地中海沿岸まで延びる香料の道に、連なるように点在している。これらは紀元前3世紀から紀元2世紀まで栄えた、アラビア南部から地中海沿岸への乳香や没薬の交易を反映している。精巧な灌漑システムや都市構造、要塞、隊商宿などの遺跡は、過酷な砂漠において貿易や農業がいかに営まれてきたかを如実に物語っている。source: NFUAJ
Wierookroute – steden in de Negev woestijn
De vier Nabateïsche steden Haluza, Mamshit, Avdat en Shivta bevinden zich samen met hun bijbehorende forten en agrarische landschappen in de Negev woestijn. De steden liggen verspreid langs routes die hen verbinden met de Middellandse Zee en het eindpunt van de wierook- en specerijenroute. Samen weerspiegelen ze de enorm winstgevende handel in wierook en mirre van Zuid-Arabië naar de Middellandse Zee, in de periode van de 3e eeuw voor tot de 2e eeuw na Christus. Binnen de steden zijn overblijfselen van geavanceerde irrigatiesystemen, stedelijke constructies, forten en karavanserai te vinden. Ze getuigen van de manier waarop de barre woestijn werd gebruikt voor handel en landbouw.
Source: unesco.nl
Outstanding Universal Value
Brief synthesis
The Incense Route was a network of trade routes extending over two thousand kilometres to facilitate the transport of frankincense and myrrh from the Yemen and Oman in the Arabian Peninsula to the Mediterranean.
The four Nabatean towns of Haluza, Mamshit, Avdat and Shivta, with their associated fortresses and agricultural landscapes linking them to the Mediterranean are situated on a segment of this route, in the Negev Desert, in southern Israel. They stretch across a hundred-kilometre section of the desert, from Moa on the Jordanian border in the east to Haluza in the northwest. Together they reflect the hugely profitable trade in Frankincense from south Arabia to the Mediterranean, which flourished from the third century BCE until the second century CE, and the way the harsh desert was colonised for agriculture through the use of highly sophisticated irrigation systems.
Ten of the sites (four towns - Haluza, Mamshit, Avdat and Shivta; four fortresses - Kazra, Nekarot, Makhmal, and Grafon; and the two caravanserai of Moa and Saharonim) lie along, or near to, the main trade route from Petra, capital of the Nabatean Empire in Jordan, to the Mediterranean ports. The town of Mamshit straddles the northern parallel route. Combined, the route, and the desert cities along it, reflect the prosperity of the Nabatean incense trade over a seven hundred year period, from the 3rd century BCE to the 4nd century CE.
The towns were supported by extremely sophisticated systems of water collection and irrigation that allowed large-scale agriculture. These included dams, channelling, cisterns and reservoirs. Evidence of all these features is widespread around Avdat and central Negev, as are the remains of ancient field systems strung along riverbeds and hill slopes.
The property displays an all-embracing picture of Nabatean town planning and building technology over five centuries. The combination of towns, and their associated agricultural and pastoral landscapes, present a complete fossilized cultural environment.
The remains of the Nabatean desert settlements and agricultural landscapes presents a testimony to the economic power of frankincense in fostering a long desert supply- route from Arabia to the Mediterranean in Hellenistic-Roman times, which promoted the development of towns, forts and caravanserais to control and manage that route. They also display an extensive picture of Nabatean technology over five centuries in town planning and building and bear witness to the innovation and labour necessary to create an extensive and sustainable agricultural system in harsh desert conditions, reflected particularly in the sophisticated water conservation constructions.
Criterion (iii): The Nabatean towns and their trade routes bear eloquent testimony to the economic, social and cultural importance of frankincense to the Hellenistic-Roman world. The routes also provided a means of passage not only for frankincense and other trade goods but also for people and ideas.
Criterion (v): The almost fossilized remains of towns, forts, caravanserais and sophisticated agricultural systems strung out along the Incense Route in the Negev desert, display an outstanding response to a hostile desert environment and one that flourished for five centuries.
Integrity
The towns and forts combined with their trade routes and their agricultural hinterland, in all they provide a very complete picture of the Nabatean desert civilisation strung along a trade route. Remains of all the elements that comprised the settlements - towns, forts, caravanserais, and agricultural landscapes are within the boundaries. The limited development of the region has given the sites considerable protection from development. None of the attributes are under threat.
Authenticity
The remains of the towns, fortresses and caravanserais and landscapes mostly express well the outstanding universal value of the property as reflecting and exemplifying the prosperity of the Nabatean incense trade.
It is acknowledged that the cities of Mamshit and Haluza have previously been subjected to earlier interventions that threatened their authenticity. As part of the current management action, the inappropriate reconstructions in Mamshit, which were based on a scenographic intention rather than a scientific approach, were removed in 2005. And, excavations at Haluza, partly left without sufficient post-excavation consolidation, were backfilled during 2005 - 2006.
Protection and management requirements
All of the nominated property is State owned. It is protected by national legislation, with all the component parts either being within designated national parks or nature reserves.
The Israel Nature and Parks Authority manage the property on a daily basis, and the Israel Antiquities Authority manages the conservation and excavation activities on the designated structures.
All finance comes from the Israel Nature and Parks Authority budget, supported by site income, sales and government subsidy. The four towns each have specifically designated allocations. In low-income years, funds are spent only on maintenance and protection, with conservation subsequently taking place as external funding becomes available.
There is a need for a continuing comprehensive archaeological strategy for the whole property and also for each of the major towns to cover archaeological research, non-destructive recording and approaches to stabilization and repair.
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